The crash of two Romanian military planes with eight dead has puzzled the country's air force.
A military helicopter crashed in southeastern Romania, killing all seven crew members, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday evening, according to Romanian media reports.
The helicopter crew was on a search mission after an Air Force MiG-21 Lancer fighter jet went missing.
The Ministry of Defense later said the fighter jet had also crashed.
The 31-year-old pilot died, the ministry said.
The cause of the crash of the military aircraft was initially unclear.
Both incidents happened about 100 kilometers as the crow flies from the border with Ukraine on the Black Sea.
The IAR-330 Puma helicopter first lost contact with the control tower while searching for the fighter jet and then crashed near the town of Cogealac, the reports said.
Shortly before, the helicopter pilot had received the order from the control tower to turn back because of bad weather.
The MiG fighter jet took off from the Mihail Kogalniceanu air force base near the port city of Constanta on a patrol mission and then disappeared from radar.
The US military has been stationed at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base for years.
Since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, NATO troop contingents and equipment have been increased there.